Last Updated on July 15, 2020 by Cory Kawa
With this year being a little different then most, I have been thinking lately about what my goals should be. I was going to focus on the run, targeting an under 40, 10k, or under 3:10 marathon. However, recovering from a broken heel has forced me to adjust.
I have a few ideas that I’m working on, further details to come, but it’s safe to say the long ride will be a key training component.
With that in mind, I decided to do a 135km ride this weekend, the second-longest of my life, with a physically distanced father’s day stop along the way.
The weather for the ride was almost perfect, with not much wind, countered by temperatures of 30, that felt more like 40 by mid-day.
I started strong with a 50k climb up to King City and across to Musselman’s lake. The weather was manageable, I was feeling great, and by the end of that segment, I was contemplating a 100 miler in the not too distant future.
Coming out of Musselman’s, I had 35k straight downhill to Rouge Hill, at which point I was getting extremely confident and amazed by how easy this ride was going.
After a pleasant visit with my dad, I started the final leg of the trip, 55km through the city, with a slight uphill grade most of the way.
Then the fun stopped. Coming out of Rouge Hill, my Strava route threw me a curveball, forcing me to ride on the road a lot more than intended. I don’t mind road riding in the country, but I was not too fond of the 20k, mid-day, on Kingston and Danforth. I finished okay, but after a quick bite, I was done for the day.
I made sure to drink lots of fluids, including two bottles of Gatorade, and five bottles of water over the six hours, despite drinking all of that I still managed to lose three and a half pounds of fluid over the ride.
Dehydration was probably the most significant contributor to the eight hours of recovery that was required. I’m not sure how I can drink more next time, but if I do want to finish a hundred miler soon, I will have to figure that out.
I then woke up to my wonderful girls, who surprised me with a signed Jumping Joe Bluejay’s photo, and have been doing everything they can to make my day great.
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